‘Arizona Boys’ drug gang members convicted in 2011 Otero County slaying
Two members of a notorious drug-dealing gang known as the ‘Arizona Boys’ have been convicted in a 2011 New Mexico murder case, prosecutors announced late Monday afternoon.
Robert “Bob” Chavez, 46, was found guilty by a jury and Matias Loza, 39, abruptly pled guilty to the killing of Richard Valdez, whose body was found in a burned out car by Otero County Sheriff’s deputies in November 2011. It was later determined that Valdez had been shot in the head.
Chavez and Lopez were each sentenced to life plus 21 years in prison, according to Twelfth Judicial District Attorney John Sugg.
Among the evidence gathered by authorities included a cell phone recording of the pair plotting the murder — as well as a video of the two men taking Valdez’s body out of a house along San Pedro Drive after he was killed, and putting him in the vehicle that was later found on fire.
The ‘Arizona Boys’ first appeared in Otero County about a decade ago from the Phoenix area — where their name originated — and set up shop dealing methamphetamine, according to authorities.
Prosecutors said key members of the group have been convicted in recent years of high-profile crimes ranging from drug trafficking, money laundering, and arson to murder.
